Rhino_man:I would love to take this test and find out whether or not the study's authors think I'd be ready for contact.

I personally think that I would be... but who knows?

I'd like to think I am, too. I'm not an expert, but I have a good general knowledge about astronomy, Earth, history, and cultures, but who knows how alien some manner of foreign interstellar life would be? If they looked like a person with latex makeup, ok sure, I'm stoked. Will I even know which part of their body (assuming they have individuals with singular bodies) to look at and address? Hopefully they have the means of communication figured out before saying 'hi', otherwise my frustrations at learning languages is going to be amplified.

"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space." - Douglas Adams.

Seriously, people need to understand how far away everything is from Earth. Maybe there is a way to travel faster than the speed of light, or to warp space so you shrink distance without violating the speed of light limit, but even then the proverbial needle in a haystack would be 10 billions times easier than finding an inhabitable planet, let alone one with any type of intelligent beings.

There's nothing "scientific" about a study involving 116 people. To be considered in any way reliable or accurate you have to have a minimum of 1000 people involved.

Not only that, but that's only 38 people per country! You mean to tell me that he couldn't find more than 38 people to participate in each country? Not only is the total number flawed, but clearly the individual locations are flawed as well.

His margin of error is AT LEAST 10 percent, assuming absolutely no sample bias from location.....

I really hate it when "science" like this gets published. Half expected this to be from the Daily Mail, but HP does it a lot as well. Pathetic.

Steve Zodiac:Maybe there is a way to travel faster than the speed of light, or to warp space so you shrink distance without violating the speed of light limit, but even then the proverbial needle in a haystack would be 10 billions times easier than finding an inhabitable planet, let alone one with any type of intelligent beings.

Finding habitable planets with telescopes, even discerning the content of their atmospheres, and picturing the surface is all the easy part. Telescopes in the next few decades are expected to manage that. Determining if there's intelligent life on those planets will be pretty hard and actually getting there is the near-impossible step.

kyleaugustus:Steve Zodiac: Maybe there is a way to travel faster than the speed of light, or to warp space so you shrink distance without violating the speed of light limit, but even then the proverbial needle in a haystack would be 10 billions times easier than finding an inhabitable planet, let alone one with any type of intelligent beings.

Finding habitable planets with telescopes, even discerning the content of their atmospheres, and picturing the surface is all the easy part. Telescopes in the next few decades are expected to manage that. Determining if there's intelligent life on those planets will be pretty hard and actually getting there is the near-impossible step.

Exactly. Right now, the speed of light is an absolute limit that we don't know how to get around. And even if there is a way, space is still huge. Would you go on a trip to another planet if by the time you get back to your home world 100 years have passed? Or a thousand? 100 thousand? Even traveling at an effective speed 5 times the speed of light, to cross the Milky Way would take around 20,000 Earth years. The aliens aboard the spaceship might not age much but their world and civilization will. And that's not searching for intelligent life, thats just traveling from point A to point B. I won't say it's impossible, but I would say it's very improbable.

I've noticed people are a lot more comfortable with the idea now than they were just 6-7 years ago. No one calls me names when i talk about it here anymore.

And there are people who want to believe we can't handle it, because telling us would change a lot of peoples perspectives. I think they fake these studies to justify keeping it under wraps. They used to use war of the worlds as evidence we would panic, when that is about aliens roaming the planet destroying everything. Not really the same thing at all.

Edwards: Why the big secret? People are smart. They can handle it.Kay: A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.

If aliens from outer space ever come and we show them our civilization and theymake fun of it, we should say we were just kidding, that this isn't really ourcivilization, but a gag we hoped they would like. Then we tell them to comeback in twenty years to see our REAL civilization. After that, we start acrash program of coming up with an impressive new civilization. Either that,or just shoot down the aliens as they're waving good-bye. - Jack Handey

J. Frank Parnell:I've noticed people are a lot more comfortable with the idea now than they were just 6-7 years ago. No one calls me names when i talk about it here anymore.

And there are people who want to believe we can't handle it, because telling us would change a lot of peoples perspectives. I think they fake these studies to justify keeping it under wraps. They used to use war of the worlds as evidence we would panic, when that is about aliens roaming the planet destroying everything. Not really the same thing at all.

Are you sure you're not confusing the possibility of meeting aliens in the future with the assertion they've already visited?

this is stupid. Who cares if a few people freak out? They will eventually calm down or kill themselves, and the world will keep turning. Since when have the existence of crazy & easily panicked people stopped the gears of science (recently)?..

The fundies are convinced they are demons, even though the defining characteristic of demons is a lack of any physical form. Somehow they miss how biblical angels are always descending from the heavens in chariots, and UFOs are even pictured in many old christian paintings. The Fatima 'miracle' was also pretty obviously a mass UFO sighting, and the Vatican considers that to be a holy event.

Fear the Clam:Humans are not yet ready to make contact with intelligent humans.

That last thread I was in has seriously damage my belief in intelligent life on Fark... it's was like the few smart people on here are probably the only thing bringing up the average IQ of Farkers at Peter numbers, but there's only so much that 2% can do, otherwise I'd go with creationist level.

FatherChaos:Ever notice how all aliens are humanoid in shape? Are we so unimaginative that we can't think of another intelligent life form that doesn't look like us?

Lots of different evolutionary branches led to 4 legged creatures, or other things. It's possible 2 walking limbs and 2 limbs for tools just naturally happens. Or, we are related to any humanoid aliens.

Bob Robert:fusillade762: Most lacked awareness of many aspects of astronomy and their views were coloured by religion.

That's what happens when you include Americans in your survey.

Good troll A++ Because no other country would have large religious people, especially Spain or Italy.

According to Wikipedia, comparing church attendance rates in Europe and US/ Canada shows only Malta(75%), Poland(63%), and Ireland(46%) have higher rates than the US(43%). Italy is at 31%, and Spain is only 21%. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_attendance